Marseille and the great train adventure

Tuesday April 10th was the day to get Oscar's American passport and social security number so we got up bright and early to head off on the one and a half hour drive to Marseille where the American Consulate is located.

The appointment was set for 9:45 am. It was a beautiful day, a second day of summer like weather. Carpentras was going to get some wind but not Marseille! Yipee.

I like Marseille actually. It is not a sparkly clean city but it is lively and colorful and busy like Paris. When I was a student in Aix en Provence, my friend Madeleine and I would take the bus to Marseille at least twice a month to spend the day wandering along the Vieux Port and other areas.

Today the area there is very new...in one of my posts last year I talked about the new shopping area and the Mucem museum...we drove past this on our way to the consulate.

The ferris wheel was set up in the Vieux Port and this reflective structure was near the boats...looked very interesting!

The "Eiffel Tower"of Marseille is the Bonne Mère or Notre Dame de la Garde basilica up on the highest hill in the city... I took this photo from the terrace of the train station...the poster on the right is part of the same exhibit we saw in Paris Gare de Lyon about the new generation. They seem to go well together although the church is one for sailors and has many beautiful mosaics depicting sea themes. If you are at the Metropolitan Museum in New York you can see Paul Signac's painting of the church and the vieux port.

While Anton and Emmanuelle took Oscar to the consulate we waited outside with Maya and did some exploration. Maya is doing an "A" for American in front of the consulate...

can you see the American flag there in the distance? I always felt a sense of pride whenever I would see that in France but somehow this time I just felt rather sad. The consulate is located on this square

commemorating an American hero of the Résistance!!!

It is also across from the Prefecture of Marseille and since Maya was born in Marseille she was ready to strike a pose as usual!

We checked out some shop windows and the area around the prefecture...this colorful display was in Villeroy et Bosch

 This is a pedestrian and bike path going towards the Canebière the sort of Champs Elysées of Marseille which heads down to the Vieux Port. The name of the street comes from the fact that this was the area where hemp was grown which was one of the city's largest industries for making rope and baskets. Check out that blue sky up there!!

 JC had the idea for us to take the train along the coast to Miramas but we had to wait a few hours for the train so we took the metro over to Place St. Julien. The metro goes very deep into the ground....

Emmanuelle and I went to the Marché de la Plaine to look at fabric while everyone else went to the playground. Here are some shops we passed on the way. This area of Marseille is a bit like Hawthorne and Alberta Street combined. Lots more tagging but really quite artsy!

In the metro one of the posters:

It sounds out to: "I am the best!" (for those of you who do not read French)...they want you to learn English hmmm.

We got to the very lovely new St. Charles train station...it looks like an airport. It was very different when I arrived here in 1969!! There is even a Sephora shop here!

 People waiting for their train can play the piano and sing for all to enjoy!

The scenic train was leaving from quai "N" and we hopped on and it began to roll along the coast.

 The view out a rather dirty train window!!!

 The train goes along the Calanques with this gorgeous turquoise blue water.

We came through this station in Estaques (where Cézanne painted)...this structure comes from the days of the Eiffel tower and is still in very good shape.

Everyone was looking out the windows and oohing...well, maybe not Anton so much!!!

We could see very pretty little harbors down below and villages

and then suddenly after La Redonne Ensuès the tracks went more inland and we began to see oil refineries and that sort of not very attractive stuff. We decided to get off the train in Fos-sur-mer...

here's JC with his travel look

Not the most charming station!

We returned to La Redonne and got off the train to get coffee and some ice cream by the little harbor there.

 The train station is up on the hill to the left of the bridge by the way.....

By now the day was beginning to drag on a bit too much and we climbed up the hill back to the train station only to learn that our train was "en panne" (broken down) and we could not expect another one for 37 minutes. Zut alors!! It was a long day for sure but memorable! A bientôt!

Busy week in Provence!

Oscar Paris celebrated his second birthday on Thursday! I can hardly believe the time has gone so quickly! We plan a family celebration this coming weekend but nevertheless there is ice cream in the freezer for supper tonight!
There has been lots to do around here since we arrived a week ago. Emmanuelle was on a school trip to Venice so we helped out with Anton at home.
The first few days here were rainy and cold!!! There was even some snow on Mont Ventoux.

We spent part of Sunday at the park all of us bundled up. Oh no! I thought we'd brought along the rainy days of Portland!!

However, as is usually the case, the day after two days of rainy weather is...Monday and the sun was out along with a burst of Mistral which made sure the clouds would leave!
After we got everyone off to work, school and the nanny JC and I decided to take a short drive around and ended up in Uzès where we grabbed some lunch outside in the sunshine before heading home to do the afternoon pick up.

You know you are in France when you see a road that looks like this with a long row of trees!

In Uzès there is a candy museum and since we love the rotella licorice they make, we stopped in at the candy boutique.

 This is the little stand you put between you and the next customer...people had carts loaded with the various candies Haribo makes.

In town everything was closed but the windows were fun to look at. There is lots of "dijon" yellow everywhere this spring as you can see.

 I liked the clever way this shop displays its name...on little metal handbags hanging on each side of the door.

They were closed but I got to take pictures in the window like I enjoy doing!!

On Wednesday Maya does not have class so we decided it was the perfect day to go to Avignon.

It was pretty windy but we had lunch in a little bistro and then she took a turn on the carousel.

Later we were able to grab an espresso and some ice cream outside in the sunshine...that was nice!

We played a little "model and photagrapher" along the fashionable street Joseph Vernet in front of some chic boutiques.

Its always fun to come here because there is something pretty and interesting to see every time. Here's some more yellow!

At home in Carpentras the covered passage had these really neat umbrellas hanging upside down...does this mean we will only have sunshine while we are here?

Anyway, Saturday is the strawberry festival in Carpentras so we hope for sunshine...

also, I think I'm finally going to get over to a market in Pernes les Fontaines. More next time! A bientôt!